Coastal Cuisine - Summer 2011

Coastal Cuisine –

An Olympic Peninsula Edible Adventure

The joys of eating outdoors Shelton’s superb syrah Packing an Olympic picnic Supplement to the May 25, 2011 issue of the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader

Coastal Cuisine

editor’s note

Epiphanies, picnics and ... Washington syrah An

An Olympic Peninsula Edible Adventure May 25, 2011

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EDITOR’S NOTE Epiphanies, picnics and ... Washington syrah.

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THE JOYS OF EATING OUTDOORS Jan Halliday takes us on a gastronomic walkabout.

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PROVISIONS FOR AN OLYMPIC PICNIC From oysters, to wine, to produce and cheeses, these peninsula purveyors offer plenty of local fare to fill your picnic basket.

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TASTING NOTES Walter Dacon Wines: Shelton winemaker’s superb syrah.

10 MISE EN PLACE How to pack for the peninsula picnic – recipes for marinated chicken skewers and a salad of potatoes, artichoke hearts and red peppers from Catherine Kapp.

≈ Coastal Cuisine: An Olympic Peninsula Edible Adventure PUBLISHER Scott Wilson swilson@ptleader.com

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sara Radka sradka@ptleader.com

ON THE COVER: Lake Crescent with picnic accoutrements courtesy of What’s Cookin in Port Townsend.

Photo by James Robinson

PHOTOGRAPHERS Allison Arthur Catherine Kapp James Robinson

EDITOR James Robinson jrobinson@ptleader.com DESIGN & LAYOUT Marian Roh mroh@ptleader.com

WRITERS Allison Arthur Jan Halliday Catherine Kapp James Robinson COPY EDITORS Lynn Nowak Sunny Parsons Renae Reed

CONTACT The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader 226 Adams St. Port Townsend, WA 98368 360.385.2900 ptleader.com

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piphanies. My own epiphany with Washington syrah came in 2008 when I returned home to Seattle to attend my sister’s wedding.

The whirlwind, three-day visit included a trip to Café Campagne on the eve of the big event, which led to too much steak tartare, way too much cabernet franc, too little time for wine shopping and a bride exasperated with her hungover brothers – but that’s another story.

Just before my return flight, looking haggard after the marathon wedding weekend, I ducked into Vino Volo at Sea-Tac airport, and with just a few minutes to spare before boarding, asked the clerk for something stunning – but not a cabernet – that hummed with terroir and was true to Washington state.

“Do you like Côte-Rôtie?” she asked.

“I do.”

“Then you’ll love this.”

And she handed me a bottle of the Bunnell Family Cellar’s 2005 syrah from its Yakima Valley BousheyMcPherson Vineyard. Knowing nothing about the wine, I paid and scurried off to the gate. In retrospect, I should have bought a case.

I opened the bottle two weeks later, and after a few swirls and sips, realized that Washington wines had evolved during the 20 years I’d been away. Velvety smooth and underscored with layers of smoke, black fruits and pepper, the Bunnell syrah was polished, evocative – transcendent. We drank it in front of a crackling fire while devouring a rack of Colorado lamb. That syrah sparked a search for excellence that set my life on a trajectory that eventually would lead me to Shelton to find Lloyd Anderson and his Walter Dacon wines. And it was an epiphany while sipping a glass of 1995 E. Guigal Hermitage that crystallized Lloyd Anderson’s vision and drove him to craft worldclass syrah from Washington grapes.

And luckily, the epiphanies keep coming.

Leaving the office one drizzly March day and driving down along Hood Canal – far away from Google searches, emails, the clatter of keyboards and phone calls – reminded me that, in a world where productivity is measured in gigahertz, pausing for a moment can be the most important part of a journey. Stop for a bit – and better yet, step outside your comfort zone – and the world unfolds before you. You may be surprised by whom you’ll meet and what you’ll find.

What I discovered that day was a hidden waterfall tucked off the roadside near Brinnon, an unusual and exciting wine selection inside the Hama Hama Company store, fresh oysters at Potlatch State Park, and news that chanterelles and Pacific blackberries could be had at the Hoquiam Farmers Market. Many of these places are described in this issue’s pages.

Jan Halliday’s essay on eating outdoors – also in this issue – begins with an “aha” moment in childhood

2 ❘ May 2011 ❘ COASTAL CUISINE: AN OLYMPIC PENINSULA EDIBLE ADVENTURE

Marymere Falls, Olympic National Park.

Photo by James Robinson and reminds us that the most memorable meals are often the simplest, enjoyed al fresco, with rudimentary utensils and close friends.

And we’ve all had these surprising moments, such as when something simple like forgotten matches led to new friends and a spontaneous shared picnic at North Beach County Park, where we gorged ourselves on toasted bread slathered with creamy blue cheese and black cod cooked over coals.

And like epiphanies, the best picnics are spontaneous affairs.

With the long, warm days of summer upon us, it’s time to grab a pack or picnic basket, raid the cupboards, load up, get outside and explore.

Stop for a moment this summer while exploring the peninsula’s back roads, byways and beaches, and you may be surprised by what you find.

Happy summer and bon appétit.

≈

James Robinson The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader

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The joys of eating outdoors

he baker, 10 years old, stands on a stool sifting white flour on wax paper.

The kitchen is cramped, built into a nook on the second floor. She has thrown open the windows and looks into the ivy-covered trunks of 300-year-old fir trees, where migratory cedar waxwings rest, and down into the garden, where the hens are tearing up the ground after bugs. Her mother’s old mixer sparks when she turns it on, the wood stove is crackling, and she can hear the river and her father’s chainsaw growling in the distance when she turns the mixer off. She wanders outside, licking batter off the spoon.

This is how it starts.

From the beginning of my culinary life, cooking was less about appliances, granite countertops and fancy pots and more about presence of mind, a sensory awareness that becomes even more acute when cooking in a makeshift kitchen, say, on a single burner in the tight galley of a sailboat with no sink, or more often, outdoors next to a fire pit.

Of all the meals cooked in wellappointed kitchens I remember few, but can recount the smallest details of dozens of camp kitchens: a thick cut of tenderloin on a wilderness river, lamb ragoût on a sandstone escarpment; salad niçoise in the desert, strawberries dipped in chocolate fondue on a ridge top in the Olympic Mountains.

This journeying with food began when I was 11 years old and left my mother’s cramped kitchen for the woods with one of her sterling silver spoons, her only saucepan, a can of Campbell’s tomato soup, a pint of milk in a glass jar, newspaper and a pocketful of matches.

My destination was a hunter’s fire pit, the ash wet and pocked from rain.

It was a small rock circle under two maple trees weeping with yellow blossoms. I sat on a rock and reread the newspaper comics and “Dear Abby” before crumpling it up and striking a match, then sat back on my haunches in the wet leaves, letting the fire burn down to coals, put the soup on to cook and watched black soot streak up

the sides of my mother’s pan, an intriguing development. I hadn’t thought to bring a bowl, so ate it out of the saucepan with the silver spoon. It rained; I painted a rock with a stick and soot from the pan, welcoming the company of noisy crows looking for a handout.

mountain range. A cooler contained everything needed to make a ragoût — fresh chunks of lamb stew meat, rosemary twigs wrapped in a dish towel, a sack of ripe tomatoes, onions, garlic, pasta bows and a bottle of red wine. The trick to this stew is day-long, slow cooking in a cast-iron pot, and so I spent the early morning gathering and snapping fallen juniper limbs and built a small fortress of bleached white sticks for my fire.

Juniper burns hot and quick, and so all day I fed the fire and stirred the pot, visited in turn by a herd of white-tailed deer, shy antelope, a wild mare and her foal, and a bobcat – all on their way to a small watering hole cached in a small basin in the bedrock behind the camp.

Lemon curd made in a double boiler on an electric stove is a dull experience, watching the coil redden without sound, but still redeemable when the dark yellow egg yolks are separated from the whites, the curd miraculously thickening as it heats. And so this became

On a hot July afternoon, in central Oregon’s high desert, two of us crossed Lake Simtustus in a small boat and nosed into the cool shadows of the Deschutes River Canyon. A thick cut of tenderloin steak, wrapped in foil, stayed cool on ice in the 100-degree heat.

Near dusk, the air was heady with the scent of brown trout, kokanee salmon, sagebrush and searing steak. A grouse thumped in the rimrock, swallows swept across the river after mayflies, and wild yellow iris flagged the river’s edge as the shadows moved up the canyon walls. I hadn’t thought to bring plates, but had brought a head of garlic, which I slivered with my Swiss Army knife onto the meat. We picked up chunks of sizzling steak, ate with our hands, and then washed up and cast for trout.

Steens Mountain, on the Nevada/ Oregon border, is uninhabited. Old mining roads wind high above the cracked lakebed that is now the Alvord Desert, and that’s where we made camp – on the edge of a precipice with an unimpeded view across the plain into a nearby

large bowl and an electric hot plate, and proceeded to cook meals in the most scenic of places: Cannon Beach, the Redwoods, the Napa Valley, the Southwestern desert. A favorite camp meal: salad niçoise.

Hard-boil the eggs and set them aside, then boil red potatoes in the bottom of the steamer and steam green beans on top.

Open a can of tuna, arrange cherry tomatoes on fresh greens with the piles of potatoes, sliced eggs and beans, and drench the works with balsamic vinaigrette.

During an infestation of “Mexican generals” in Arizona’s borderlands, these huge red and green grasshoppers landed on my shoulders and Velcro-ed themselves to my wooden spoon. When you cook outdoors, you are never alone.

When cooking in makeshift kitchens, time slows and expands.

The cook sees shadows in the

green flowerettes of broccoli, concentric shades of orange and yellow in a carrot, an onion’s layered transparency. All senses are engaged in the crackling, glow and heat of the fire, the tactile gathering and breaking of twigs, the crumple of newspaper. A drop of rain that leaves its mark on a stone, the smoke shifts with each breath of wind. Flavor is enhanced by acute attention, all the synapses firing, and remains locked in the memory, a saturation of intertwined experience.

One last thing. For years, people who love the woods and good food have gathered for “gourmet hikes” into the Olympic Mountains.

The chosen destination is often a secret, the food always a secret.

One June, I picked 3 quarts of ripe strawberries, wrapped them between towels and nestled them into an empty pack. Our hike was high above the Elwha River, and the food: Greek avgolemono, fresh cold asparagus, smoked salmon quiche, croissants with thinly sliced turkey and chutney, spicy hazelnuts and pecans. I opened a jar of homemade hot fudge, reheated it carefully over a gas flame in a metal cup used to steam milk, unrolled the berries and passed out toothpicks to my friends.

After our meal, others packed out the dishes. Some of us lingered for the remainder of the day on the riverbank, sitting side by side on a cedar log, dangling our legs over the water. After a while, hungry again, I retrieved the sauce. Because we couldn’t reach the bottom of the jar with our fingertips and had no spoons, we cut twigs, peeled back the bark and used them as spoons.

≈ a favorite camp dessert, enriched with tiny wild strawberries found nodding at the edge of a dirt road, sweet blackberries picked from a clearcut, high mountain huckleberries or raspberries from a U-pick farm, poured over the tart lemon sauce in a tin cup.

By Jan Halliday

A few years ago, I lost the house on purpose, bored with housekeeping. I sold it and most of my belongings, bought an18-foot camper and meandered down the West Coast, my kitchen composed of a sauté pan, steamer,

4 ❘ May 2011 ❘ COASTAL CUISINE: AN OLYMPIC PENINSULA EDIBLE ADVENTURE

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COASTAL CUISINE: AN OLYMPIC PENINSULA EDIBLE ADVENTURE ❘ May 2011 ❘ 5

food for thought

tasting notes

A conversation with Candace Hulbert

Shelton winemaker’s superb syrah

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andace Hulbert came to Port Townsend in 1977. During her more than three decades on the Olympic Peninsula, she cofounded the Uptown Pub – a Port Townsend institution – started Uptown Custom Catering, and hobnobbed with many of the chefs and players in the Port Townsend restaurant scene. In 1990, she launched Candace’s Cookies and never looked back – well, maybe just a few times.

You have been involved in the food business for years in Port Townsend. Were you involved in restaurants before? My dad was in the restaurant business, and I was – of course – never going to do that. Before I became fascinated with cooking, and when I moved to Port Townsend, I was an outreach worker. I worked for the county. I didn’t have anything to do with food.

So what got you out of that and into making cookies? I worked for Sally Boyer, who had the deli at Aldrich’s; I worked for Ev Dennison, who had Bread and Roses at that time, and those were the two places to be. And my dear friend Lonnie Ritter was a chef, so I had all these people who cooked around me, and I just watched them, and it didn’t seem like work. So my husband and I started the Uptown Pub in 1981.

We ran it for 15 years and we sold it in 1995. I had a kitchen there and I sold all kinds of food. We had never poured a beer. There had never been alcohol up there [in Uptown] in the history of the town. Then I built another kitchen next door, in the present-day 1012 Coffee Bar, and I was there for eight years. I sort of was the mayor of Uptown. So then I got the nerve to move here once the [Food] Co-op moved over to this neighborhood, and I decided well, here’s my chance, and Ray said, “Come on now, let’s do it.” This [the kitchen on Kearny] was a moldering pit. It was horrifying. We spent every dime on it and thought, “Uh-oh, we finally bit off more than we could chew.” But no, it was good, it was a beautiful thing to do.

more accounts, branching out within the county, and then into Clallam County.

Do you go all the way to Forks and the West End? Port Angeles is about the end of my distribution out west, but I’m just now getting started on doing a Web page to sell cookies online, which is huge – I don’t even have a cell phone.

I have to tell you, I was shocked to see you sit down at the computer and work that mouse. You don’t strike me as a computer person. You’re very hands on. You’re a smart boy, yes you are. You’re exactly right.

So, you’ve come into the digital age with your website. Do you have a cell phone now? Not really. I have one, but I don’t give anybody the number. I don’t want it to ring. When you call me, I’m actually sitting down in a chair at home.

I’ve been involved in many facets of the food business, but I’ve never been a baker, because I can’t get up in the morning. What time do you get up? I used to get up very early. It was quite sickening actually.

How sickening? Four [a.m.] at least. Sometimes, when we had the pub, and I was in the little kitchen right next to it, Ray would get off work and I would come to work. He would be leaving at 3 and I would be getting there. But that was good, and those were happy years for us. We made money and raised our daughter, and then we raised our granddaughter.

I notice a little twang in your voice. Where are you from? Georgia. But it’s not my fault. My parents lived there. I’m only half Southern.

Was this in Candace’s 20-year plan?

No. But I don’t like to plan too much. An un-aimed arrow never

How many years have you made your cookies? About 20 now, 21 years. I’ve paid for a house, I’ve raised two children, I’ve paid billions of dollars in taxes ... unlike Bank of America.

All on cookies? All on cookies. I get up really early in the morning, well, not so much these days, but for many years, to make things that cost less than $2 – you’ve got to be on it. You’ve got to be careful with your costs. Slowly I started getting

8 ❘ May 2011 ❘ COASTAL CUISINE: AN OLYMPIC PENINSULA EDIBLE ADVENTURE

Continued on page 11▼

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nspired by a glass of 1995 E. Guigal Hermitage, Shelton’s Lloyd and Ann Anderson set out in 2003 to create a syrah that captured the essence of the great northern Rhônes, embodied Washington’s unique terroir, and balanced the grape’s signature power and grace. By 2005, and after years of home winemaking and coursework at University of California, Davis, and Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore., the Andersons released the first public vintages of Walter Dacon wines. The wine media took notice.

Scoring high marks in Wine Spectator the following year for their C’est Syrah Belle, C’est Syrah Beaux and C’est Syrah Magnifique, the Andersons forged ahead. By September 2010, the Walter Dacon wine triumvirate had scored 90 points and above, and received accolades from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast, The Seattle Times and Seattle Met magazine – the latter naming the winery’s 2007 Appanage one of the top 100 Washington wines.

“Ann and I went over to Eastern Washington and took a typical tourist winery tour with Scott Williams at Kiona, and I was just enthralled with the whole thing,” Lloyd said. “So I asked Scott, ‘Hey, I think I’d like to try to make some wine.’ And he said, ‘I’ll sell you some grapes.’ So that was the beginning. It was just homemade wine for three years, and 2000 actually was the first year. We did that for three vintages, and it all turned out pretty good. At about the same time, the timber industry was tanking, so we thought, let’s not do this anymore with the timber.”

Lloyd holds a degree in forest management from the University of California, Berkeley, and between 1974 and 2002, he worked for Weyerhaeuser and then as a private forestry consultant and contractor.

“We sold all the forestry equipment

Aged in French oak and using grapes sourced from some of Washington’s premier AVAs, the 2007 C’est Syrah Belle offers lovely notes of plum, red currant and toasty cocoa up front, followed by earthy, leathery notes on the finish.

Photo by James Robinson and invested the money – and a lot more – in the winery,” Ann said.

“The way it turned out was perfect.

This is a whole lot more fun than forestry.”

While the trip to Kiona Vineyards may have sparked the Andersons’ interest, it was a single glass of Hermitage that crystallized Lloyd’s vision and set the course for the Andersons’ – and Walter Dacon’s – future. (The winery is named for Lloyd’s grandfather.)

When Lloyd talks about that glass, a smile creeps over his face and his eyes gleam.

“I was taking classes at UC Davis and one evening after class I went over to the local wine bar, which was known as the Wine Lush.

They had a bottle of ’95 E. Guigal Hermitage that they were tasting that evening, and so I bought a glass of it,” Lloyd said. “Gosh, it was really expensive. I don’t remember what it cost.”

“I do,” Ann said. “Twenty-five bucks.”

“I was sitting there and swirling it. It was just phenomenally good,” Lloyd said. “That was the epiphany.”

Although Lloyd acknowledges he has not yet matched the ’95 E. Guigal, he remains undaunted The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader

and focused on producing some of the finest syrah available in Washington. Using fruit sourced from some of the state’s most formidable American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), including Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills, and vineyards, such as Boushey Vineyards, the Andersons have established Walter Dacon as a major player on the Washington wine scene. The winery is a required stop for oenophiles traveling north or south on U.S. Highway 101 through Shelton.

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2008 Appanage, $50 Syrah (100 percent), sourced from Boushey Vineyards Aged in French oak, the 2008 Appanage is Walter Dacon’s premier offering. A barrel sample showed notes of eucalyptus, licorice and red raspberry all wrapped around a dense core of dark chocolate.

Although not available for sale at press time, the wine should be released by the end of summer.

2007 C’est Syrah Beaux, $38 Syrah (100 percent) Aged in American oak, the 2007 C’est Syrah Beaux is muscular and bold, with black cherry and pomegranate aromas coupled with notes of cedar and spicy oak. Hints of vanilla and caramel round out the core. A bold, commanding texture and firm tannins make the Syrah Beaux a perfect companion for grilled or roasted meats and game.

Drink now or cellar.

2007 C’est Syrah Belle, $30 Syrah (96 percent), viognier (4 percent) Aged in French oak, the 2007 C’est Syrah Belle offers lovely notes of plum, red currant and toasty cocoa up front, followed by earthy, leathery notes on the finish. Pretty, delicate and approachable – drink now or cellar.

2010 Viognier, $22 Viognier (100 percent) Notes of honeysuckle, fresh almonds, peach blossom and citrus make this a solid summer quencher and the perfect match for Asian cuisine, Indian spices and shellfish.

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COASTAL CUISINE: AN OLYMPIC PENINSULA EDIBLE ADVENTURE ❘ May 2011 ❘ 9

ReCiPes

mise en place

there’s just something about a picnic “There is no jollier way to spend a summer day than picnicking, even if you do not always have the time for long, involved preparations.”

Ida Bailey Allen, When You Entertain: What to Do and How, 1932

Grilled Chicken Skewers 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast (or equivalent amount of firm tofu or a combination of the two) cut into 1-inch pieces

T

marinade: 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup dry white wine or vermouth

It wasn’t always so. People have always eaten outdoors, of course, but movable feasts – involving huge haunches of roasted meat and dozens of retainers – seem to have originated in the Middle Ages as part of hunting parties for the nobility. By the 18th century, with the vogue for picturesque landscapes and the charms of the pastoral life, elaborate meals al fresco with linen and crystal and liveried servants had become popular — at least for the wealthy. A century later, people of all classes were enjoying the pleasures of outdoor dining, and the picnic as we know it came into fashion, though even then, the menu often included prodigious amounts of food. A typical menu for a Victorian Sunday-school outing might include fried chicken, potato salad, homemade biscuits, four kinds of sandwiches, pickles and preserves, “Saratoga chips,” several cakes, gallons of ice cream, and gallons of lemonade, coffee and tea. Ginger beer was optional.

≈

Freshly ground black pepper 1. place the whole red peppers on a charcoal grill or directly on the gas flame of a regular stove. cook, turning three or four times, until well charred on all sides. remove, wrap in a clean kitchen towel, and allow to cook through in their own heat, about 30 minutes.

prep time: 10 minutes to grill, plus at least 8 hours to marinate

hree cheers for Ida Allen and the wonderful James Beard! No matter what the weather, no matter the occasion, no matter the budget, there’s something about a picnic that lifts all but the sourest spirits. And as these experts well knew, it doesn’t have to be an elaborate or expensive affair for everyone to have a great time – in fact, with picnics, often the more spontaneous, the better.

By Catherine Kapp

1/4 cup vinaigrette (see below for recipe)

serves 4 to 6

“The color and charm of the countryside can make the most modest meal superb. Have a picnic at the slightest excuse.”

– James Beard

But for our picnic, let’s get back to basics: The two picnic items that follow are easy to prepare ahead of time, travel well and require basic equipment to prepare and serve. They can be adapted for vegetarians or meat eaters, are relatively healthy and can be made from local foods; they’re superb but not snobby, and most importantly, they’re delicious.

or a mixture of two or three

1/2 cup fruity olive oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 2 teaspoons dried mediterranean oregano 1 tablespoon minced parsley grated zest of 1 lemon Freshly ground black pepper 1. combine marinade ingredients in a glass or nonreactive baking dish. Add chicken or tofu squares and toss to coat. cover and marinate at least 8 hours or overnight.

2. if using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least an hour before grilling the meat. thread about 6 pieces of chicken/tofu on each skewer.

3. to cook: Grill, preferably over wood or charcoal, turning frequently and watching carefully so they do not burn. the meat is done when it is brown on the outside and firm to the touch. tofu will take less time. either serve immediately or allow to cool, wrap in foil, refrigerate and serve at room temperature.

A safety note: if you are planning to cook the chicken at the picnic site, be sure to pack the raw chicken carefully and keep it very cold with ice packs.

Potato, Artichoke Heart & Red Pepper Salad

2. meanwhile, cut the potatoes into 1-inch chunks. (it is not necessary to peel them, but rinse them thoroughly and remove any unsightly blemishes.) cook in salted water until just fork tender. drain and place in a large bowl. sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of white wine or vermouth and allow to cool.

3. When the peppers are soft, peel them by rubbing them under cold running water, removing the core and seeds. pat dry and cut into bite-sized slices.

4. Add peppers, artichokes, red onion and olives to the potatoes.

5. sprinkle on the chopped herbs and a few grindings of black pepper and toss lightly with vinaigrette until vegetables are well coated but not drenched (start with less than 1/4 cup).

Adjust seasonings to taste. serve chilled or at room temperature. this salad goes well with any grilled meat or fish. it stands up well to travel – no wilted lettuce and no threat of salmonella from mayonnaise.

serves 4 to 6 prep time: about 30 minutes 2 large red sweet peppers 6 medium “boiling” potatoes, such as yukon gold 8 ounces artichoke hearts (thawed if frozen, drained if canned) 1 cup kalamata olives (or substitute manzanilla or niçoise)

makes about 1/2 cup Whisk together: 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

2 tablespoons dry white wine or dry vermouth

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons finely minced fresh herbs such as basil, thyme, fennel, tarragon, chives – either a single herb 10 ❘ May 2011 ❘ Coastal Cuisine: An Olympic peninsulA edible Adventure

Dijon Vinaigrette

1/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste) Freshly ground black pepper the port townsend & Jefferson county leader

Candace ▼Continued from page 8

misses. No, really, goals are highly overrated. I plan out a little bit, but I lost my husband two years ago. He was a great part of this community and that’s just like yesterday to me.

So now, I’m right here in the bubble.

I just want to make good cookies and I’m trying to stay happy.

Breakfast & Lunch: Wed/Thur/Fri: 8 am-2:30 pm Brunch: Sat. 8 am - 2:30 pm, Sun. 8 am - 2 pm Dinner: Fri/Sat & Sun: 5-9pm

And for dessert? Crème brûlée. If it’s on the menu, I’ve got to try it.

And I still feel the same about tired old tiramisu; I will eat it every time.

It is cake, it is coffee, it is liquor, it is cheese, it is chocolate. It is everything you could want.

≈

Interviewed by James Robinson The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader

www.sweetlaurette.com

OYSTERS • CLAMS • MUSSELS

Tasting Room Hours:

Quality shellfish since 1978.

March - November Fri, Sat, Sun 12-5

Orders by phone only; same day orders by 10:00 a.m. Pick up at farm.

June - Mid September 7 days a week 12 - 5

360-379-6416

Lunch Buffet $8.95

www.sorensencellars.com 274 Otto Street #S Port Townsend

Bernie W. Mueller 5073 Flagler Rd, Nordland, WA

Authenic Indian Cuisine e

V

Closed Wednesdays, Sundays & Holidays 360-385-4312

, Vegetarian option s gan

he Aut

nic Indian Cuisin

e

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VIDEOS

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What’s your favorite food? I’m a meat eater, so I like lamb. I like duck, too. Duck confit. Duck fat ... we used to have duck fat in here all the time; we’d fry our french fries in it. That was so good ... that was just delicious. I love to fry things. But I’m not proud, I’ll eat a corndog.

I mean a good fried corndog with kiddie mustard and a real Coke – delicious. I’m not that fussy.

1029 Lawrence St. • 360-385-4886

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So you’re a real seat-of-the-pants type? That’s exactly right. It’s worked and not worked – you know it.

Open daily 11:30 am ‘til close 1038 Water Street, Port Townsend • 360-385-9708 www.thepublichouse.com

Closed Mondays & Tuesdays

EVENTS

Any great mishaps or catastrophes in your career? Oh god, yes. Hideous ones. You know, I didn’t go to baking school, I didn’t go to chef’s school. Sometimes I’d open that oven door and go, ‘Oh my god. What happened?’ My mom always said, “Don’t tell them that you don’t know how to make something but you’ll learn. Tell them you already know and then figure it out on the spot.” And that’s what I’ve always done.

Great Daily Specials • Fabulous Fish & Chips Beer • Wine • Cocktails

t Laurette SweeCafé & Bistro

You mentioned your dad was in the food business. What did he do? He had two or three restaurants – Southern food – running at the same time. He wouldn’t really tell us what he did. He told us he was a businessman. Back then, parents ruled. It’s different now. Children rule their parents. He’s turning 90 this June, so I’m going to go see him. He’s still unbelievably handsome. He’s just a madman.

It’s hard work, but the restaurant business keeps you alive. It keeps you moving. You never sit down.

When I sit down, the girls say, “Are you OK? We’ve never seen you sit down.” I wore a pedometer in here once, and it was five miles a day – just back and forth, back and forth.

Be Our Guest ...You’ll feel like family

Enjoy alfresco dining on our summer patio!

Muskan Indian RESTAURANT & BAR 2330 Washington St. • Port Townsend, WA (across from Aladdin Motor Inn) 360-379-9275

y r e d loop i c a l u s n ni alpenfire cider 360.379.8915 alpenfirecider.com

eaglemount winery & cidery finnriver farm 360.732.4084 & cidery eaglemountwinery.com 360.732.6822 finnriver.com

COASTAL CUISINE: AN OLYMPIC PENINSULA EDIBLE ADVENTURE ❘ May 2011 ❘ 11

Schott Zwiesel Wineglasses Lead Free, Scratch and Break Resistant, Dishwasher Safe. $11.85 - $12.95

The Original Rabbit Corkscrew Foil Cutter and Extra Spiral by Metrokone.

10 year warranty. $56.50

We carry wine, beer and cocktail glassware and accessories.

The Olympic Peninsula’s

“Crepe Escape!”

Breakfast • Sweet & Savory

Crepes

Now serving Gelato in 10 unique flavors!

Espresso Free WiFi Gluten Free

Brandon & Jim owners

THE GREEN EYESHADE 720 Water St., Port Townsend • 360-385-3838 Hours: 9:30 - 6 pm Daily, Open Friday ‘til 8 pm www.thegreeneyeshade.com

Open 7 Days 6 am-7 pm 1046 Water Street We deliver to downtown locations!

360-385-1151

www.waterstreetcreperie.com

Fresh daily

from our co-op kitchen

organic salads,

soups, entrees,

desserts, smoothies,

nitrate & hormone free meats, gourmet cheeses, live foods, juice bar & organic coffee

open everyday everyone welcome!

fCO-OP ood THE

Port Townsend

www.foodcoop.coop

414 Kearney

360 385-2883

12 ❘ May 2011 ❘ Coastal Cuisine: An Olympic peninsulA edible Adventure

the port townsend & Jefferson county leader